The former Drum Kingdom, now renamed Sakura Kingdom.
After Wapol, that cruel monarch, was gone, the lives of the people here gradually improved.
Especially after Dalton became the new king. He managed to bring back a portion of the doctors who had been driven out before.
As for the other portion, they had already been recruited away by wealthy people.
Back then, they had seen no hope and knew the king would not bring them back, so they simply followed new employers.
After Dalton retrieved some of the doctors, under Dr. Kureha's leadership, Sakura Kingdom gradually began restoring its reputation as a medical nation.
Dr. Kureha sat in the castle's living room, drinking tea.
Dalton, the new king, had not moved into the castle. He chose to live together with the villagers instead.
So Dr. Kureha naturally moved in.
As for those doctors, when she had time, she would go down the mountain and teach them.
When she had no time, she simply sat here alone drinking tea.
She missed Chopper, that adorable little thing.
Without him around, everything beside her felt cold and quiet. There was no liveliness at all.
That little guy was heartless too. It was not as if they had no Den Den Mushi. He did not even know to call back and ask how she was doing.
Just as she was drinking tea and reading a medical book alone, a faint voice came from outside the castle.
"Doctorine!"
"Hm?"
Dr. Kureha froze.
She seemed to have heard Chopper's voice.
Had she missed that little guy so much that she was hearing things?
Knock, knock, knock.
The living room door was knocked on directly.
White Ghost leaned lazily against the doorframe.
"See? I told you. She forgot about you ages ago. And you brought her so many good things too. What a loss."
Dr. Kureha widened her eyes as she looked at the people who appeared, along with the little guy she had been missing all this time.
Chopper ignored White Ghost's teasing and ran over on his short legs.
"Doctorine, I came back to see you!"
"Chopper. It really is Chopper."
After seeing him clearly, Dr. Kureha immediately hugged the running Chopper.
"Heeheehee! It's me. I came back to see you."
Watching the two tear up in emotion, White Ghost knocked on the door again.
"Hey, hey, hey. There are still guests here. Can you take the guests' feelings into consideration?"
"Brat."
Dr. Kureha glared at him and looked at the people beside him.
A Mink, a sickly old man, a woman with glasses, and an old acquaintance.
"Hahaha! You old woman really know how to enjoy yourself."
Crocus walked over familiarly and poured himself tea.
Dr. Kureha's face darkened.
"I'm only a hundred and something years old. I'm not old yet. And you joined them too?"
White Ghost and the others did not stand on ceremony either and each found a place to sit.
Considering Laboon's situation, only a few of them had come this time.
The main purpose was to exchange medical knowledge with this old woman.
Last time, White Ghost had not emptied out her hidden collection.
This time, he planned to take everything in one go.
The group slowly chatted.
Chopper stayed by Dr. Kureha's side the entire time, not leaving her for a moment. After all, he could stay only a little while longer. It would be troublesome to meet again in the future.
Dr. Kureha looked at White Ghost.
"So you specifically let Chopper come back to see me? Looks like you do have a bit of conscience, brat."
White Ghost shrugged.
"It's not like I'm some black-hearted captain. If my crewmate misses home, of course I'll bring him back to visit. By the way, I'll need to trouble you a little too."
Dr. Kureha looked at the people beside him.
She knew them all.
She had seen them on wanted posters.
"Brat, every time you come here, you refuse to leave empty-handed."
Dr. Kureha glared hatefully at White Ghost.
White Ghost had thick skin and did not feel embarrassed at all.
"When it comes to benefits, isn't it best to take as much as possible?"
Dr. Kureha snorted and said nothing more.
After all, this guy had taken very good care of Chopper and had not mistreated him.
The group stayed there.
Naqin and the others discussed medicine with her, and the gains were huge.
During that time, Crocus, who was just as thick-skinned as White Ghost, collected a good number of her treasured medical texts. It angered Dr. Kureha so much that she fought with him.
When White Ghost came last time, he had not understood anything. She had casually given him a few things and sent him away.
Now that he saw Crocus digging out so many good things, White Ghost was furious enough to grit his teeth.
Even when he went to sleep, White Ghost was still muttering,
"That old woman bullied me because I didn't understand anything. Last time, she casually gave me some things and sent me off."
Squirrel Tang giggled.
She had truly never seen White Ghost like this before. She only found it very interesting.
Squirrel Tang had gained a lot this time.
Exchanging knowledge with top doctors like these was truly good. Many things she had never understood before were often solved by a single sentence from them.
So this trip had not been a loss for her.
Seeing that White Ghost was still muttering, Squirrel Tang said,
"Alright, White Bro. Didn't we get everything this time?
"Especially Mr. Crocus. He scraped out her entire collection. We didn't lose out."
White Ghost nodded and finally said nothing more, hugging Squirrel Tang as he slept.
"White… White Bro, weren't we going to sleep?"
Squirrel Tang's voice sounded soft and sweet.
"Hehehe. It's fine. You sleep yours."
White Ghost's shameless laugh rang out.
"I hate you!"
…
Elsewhere, Dr. Kureha opened the gifts Chopper had brought back for her.
These past few days, they had been busy exchanging medical knowledge and had not had time to look at the presents Chopper brought.
There were a lot of gifts, all carefully chosen by Chopper.
There was a bit of everything inside.
The cosmetics had all been bought by Chopper in the Four Seas. When he bought them, he had even specially asked Stella and the others for advice.
There were also maintenance pills, whitening face masks, skin-care products, and a large pile of other things.
When she saw the three bottles of medicine, she frowned.
"Chopper, this is too precious. Take it back. I don't need it."
Chopper shook his head from the side.
"Doctorine, the captain said things are made to be used. For the people you care about, there's no such thing as precious or not precious."
The price of this medicine had already doubled.
White Ghost had forcibly doubled the price by claiming the output was low.
In the end, everyone discovered that although the price had gone up, the production volume was still the same as before.
The whole sea was cursing White Ghost, saying this guy acted like he had never seen money in his life.
White Ghost did not refute it.
This was the price.
Take it or leave it.
The people on the sea had no choice.
Only that guy had this thing, so they could only pinch their noses and accept it.
After White Ghost obtained Dr. Kureha's longevity formula before, he spent three years researching and created a kind of maintenance product.
The news released to the outside was that this thing could extend one's lifespan.
Although it was not as strong as the youth-restoration potion, its advantage was long-term use.
Through Naqin and the others improving and experimenting with all kinds of medicines, they had earned an enormous fortune.
It could be said that the money White Ghost had earned through medicine over the years was enough to buy a country.
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